Just One Dance
by Eskimo82
Summary: Murphy's attending his cousin's wedding, or The One Where Murphy Needs A Date For A Night, and has a specific person in mind… / Next (or 3rd) instalment in my 'behind blue eyes' series
**Summary** : Murphy's attending his cousin's wedding, or **The One Where Murphy Needs A Date For A Night,** and has a specific person in mind…

Next (or 3rd) instalment in my 'behind blue eyes' series

 **Notes** :

Title by Caro Emerald. This time tho, I totally nailed this.

I'm trying something else here, I hope it works.

* * *

 **Just One Dance**

* * *

"Clarke!" Murphy shouts, as he's entering the room. "Remember how _I'm_ the reason that you and Blake got together?"

His voice is getting louder which each stride, until he stops just a foot away.

"No." Bellamy says, firmly, from his spot on the couch, without looking up, eyes on the book in his hand.

"Excuse _you_ , but Emori and me totally planned it all out —"

"Still no," Bellamy repeats.

"A s - I - W a s - … " Murphy presses on, turning to Clarke.

She's sitting on the couch, Bellamy's head in her lap, and she's toying with his hair. His hair is soft in her fingers.

She could do this for hours, she thinks, but Murphy's impatient voice pulls her back. "My cousin is marrying this weekend, and I need a Plus One."

"Hell, no! Forget it Murphy!" Bellamy closes his book with a slam, and shoves it aside. Soon enough, he's sitting in an upright position, leaving only cold air behind between her fingers.

He's staring at Murphy, hard.

"I'm your soulmate. And you owe me one." Murphy says, keeping his eyes on Clarke.

"I said NO," Bellamy raises his voice and jumps to his feet. "A Plus One indicates an intimate relationship, and I'm not gonna let —" he pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly. " _you_ , touch —"

"If not Clarke, then maybe your sister …" Murphy starts, only to be interjected by Bellamy, once again.

"HELL, NO! The first time you met my sister you . . . — " Bellamy makes a face at the reminiscence of the memory, then turns to Clarke, with an exasperated expression.

He closes his eyes, breathing heavily, as if in the middle of an actual physical fight. Another shiver runs through his features, remembering all too well, before shaking his head in an attempt to shake the memory away. "…. No. I am _not_ gonna trust you with any of my girls!" He's practically shouting now, with a certain finality in his voice.

Clarke finds it hilarious, actually, so much that she cannot control her giggles anymore.

He called her, one of _his_ girls, for one. And second, his concern is really sweet and touching, albeit unnecessary. It's just Murphy… being Murphy.

"That was an accident!" Murphy throws back at Bellamy.

 _Yes, the first time_ , she thinks, stifling another set of giggles, covering her mouth with her hands.

" _Claaaaarke_ ,"Murphy whines, pleading eyes boring into hers as he's turning to her once more. "Please. You owe me one," he says, softer this time.

"Shut up, Murphy!" Bellamy interjects, "I'm _not_ going to repeat myself, AGAIN!"

Murphy looks at Clarke, still pleading.

"Please. I already RSVPed a Plus One months ago. I was supposed to take Emori, but then — the point is, I cannot show up alone. Anya's childhood best friend is single again."

 _Oh yes_ , she remembers the girl.

Ontari.

Her childhood photos are sweet, even with the pimples dotted all over her face. She must be a grown up woman now. Except, last she's heard the pimples upgraded into some weird facial scar. The poor girl.

"She's looking at me …" Murphy carries on, huffing a sigh," I never know if she wants to jump me or skin me alive. And, I cannot sit at the singles table. It's lame —"

"ENOUGH!" Bellamy cuts him off, taking a step forward, practically towering over him with a look that she can only describe as feral, before stabbing a finger to Murphy's chest, rather hard.

"But —"Murphy says, taking a step back and rubbing his fingers in circles on the sore spot already forming on his chest, while Clarke starts to say, "Bell — , "at the same time.

Bellamy heaves a sigh.

"Alright."

But then also adds, "But. I'll do it."

"WHAT?!" Clarke and Murphy both snap their heads at Bellamy's direction.

"I'll be your Plus One," he clarifies.

"Blake, you cannot be serious —"

"What? Am I not pretty enough for you?" He asks, sounding a little offended, and his suddenly hurtful eyes are telling enough that he is, indeed, offended, while he's gesturing with his hand down at the length of his body. "Take it or leave it."

Murphy huffs and scowls, and Clarke is really just left to assess the situation, once her giggles has finally died down.

Murphy huffs again, but then he must be thinking better of it and mumbles a hardly audible, although clearly grumpy _alright_.

No one moves for a while.

A minute passes, maybe two, before Bellamy lays a hand on her shoulder and squeezes gently, and then with a wink he starts toward the bedroom.

He's almost by the door, when he throws back "Come on, _muffin_ ," over his shoulder, "we have to pack."

Murphy follows, soon after, heading towards his room.

Clarke's pretty sure she hears a mumbled _You'd better be good_ from Murphy before standing up herself, hot on Bellamy's heels.

* * *

Later, when they are alone in the confines of their bedroom, another rush of uncontrollable giggles bubble up out of her, until Bellamy levels her with a gaze, telling her to stop.

"So, I'm _your_ girl, big boy?"

"Oh shut up."

* * *

Truth is, Murphy did try to get a date for the wedding.

He gave up on hitting on random girls at random places, although he had tried that for a while. None of those girls stuck, though.

He'd signed up for Tinder instead.

Until one day he asked: "Am I doing Tinder right."

"Oh my god," Bellamy'd said, then stood up rather suddenly and left them alone in the living room.

"Look," Murphy extended his arm, practically showing the phone in her face.

Surprisingly enough he was a man in very much demand. But that was not the source of the problem.

"Seriously, Clarke. Do I look like someone who's only looking for a one-night stand?"

She raised her eyebrows, amused, because _really?_ Was that the thing worrying him?

"Look, this one suggested to come up to my place…"

" _Eww_ Murphy, I don't want to know. "

And then her eyebrows had unfurrowed even further, disappearing into her hairline, under the few tufts of hair, coming undone from her messy bun, now dangling freely around her head.

A pretty good amount of those matches'd turned out to be… guys.

A few of them really good looking, with nice smiles and, objectively speaking, really nice muscle structure. But. She hadn't known that he was bi. She'd already told him about her dating backstory, and fair is fair, he should have told her, being roommates for months and all.

She knew she was pouting a little, so what. They were friends, weren't they?

But then she added: "Is there something you're trying to tell me with this…" with a pointed a stare, not really looking at him, but at the crease forming on his forehead.

"What? No. It's just…" he let out a breath before he carried on. "Nevermind."

It happened only few days later, when he got matched with two girls-turned-out-to-be-dudes, who were sending the dick pics.

For Murphy, though, that was the last drop, and he gave up on the whole Tinder thing. At least, for a while.

* * *

By Friday, they have a list of ground rules.

 ** _Allowed forms of PDA:_**

 _1\. Nicknames — limited to 'muffin' or 'pumpkin'. No 'babe'_

 _2\. Handholding_

 _3\. Other casual touches? — subtle little touches, but no more touching than necessary to convince grounder girl that Murphy is taken_

 _4\. NO GROPING_

 _5\. No_ _Kisses — on the face/ quick dry kiss on the lips is a stretch/ ONLY if absolutely necessary_

 _6\. NO FRENCH KISS_

 _7\. No feeding food to each other. It's gross._

 _8\. Room sharing — need to keep up the pretences + it's only one night_

 _9\. Dancing — one slow dance + no neck nuzzling!_

Clarke stares at the words scribbled on the single piece of paper, hurriedly teared out of a notebook, and smiles.

They clearly figured this out.

* * *

On Saturday afternoon, they are set to go.

Murphy's impatiently tapping his feet, one hand on the door knob, the other holding his duffel, when Bellamy finally appears. Ready.

And well, Bellamy in a suit is a great sight. She's a lucky girl.

He's freshly shaved and she finds herself thinking that it makes him look younger, and much _much_ more hot.

No. He looks _insanely_ hot. Mouthwatering. Damn Murphy for taking him away for a stupid wedding for the whole weekend.

She's already feeling that warm and fuzzy feeling rising low in her stomach, and not soon later the same warmth is creeping up her neck and spreading over her limbs. She's buzzing literally everywhere. She's electrified.

She thought she was lucky? No. She's so damned right now. She will have to wait a full damn day and a half to deal with this. Or, she _could_ deal with _this_ alone.

She pushes the thought away, she'd much rather prefer it to be Bellamy.

* * *

She'd been out with O for an impromptu shopping spree earlier that afternoon, but then O had to leave to prepare for her date night, so she couldn't join her and Raven on their _Boobs Only_ night.

It had been nice. Maybe they'd been drinking a little out of control, but really, she should have known. Whenever Raven gets into it, Clarke has hardly any control over the situation.

No wonder she'd lost track of counting the shots after the second round.

Her sides are still aching a little, she'd indeed laughed _that_ much, but she'd never thought that Wells was an actual tiger in bed. The sweet and innocent, caring little boy she grew up with, who taught her the basics of Chess and saved stray Easter bunnies and kittens like they were his own.

Not that she'd really wanted to know _this_ much about their sex life.

But once in a while it is Raven's turn to babble or vent, and apparently tonight was one of these occasions: Raven going into full blabber mode, hardly taking a breath. So Clarke just went with it, and it'd been a fun night.

So when she gets home well after midnight, the most she wants to do is a quick hot shower and crawling into bed. She didn't expect _this_.

Trillions of text messages blinking with a big red sign on her phone, taunting her silently, _Read me read me read me_ , awaiting to be opened and read.

Okay, maybe not a trillion, she hasn't counted, but a _lot_.

From Murphy.

And from Bellamy.

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 8:41 p.m._**

 _Clarke_

 _Clarke_

 _Claaaaarke_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 8:43 p.m._**

 _?_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 9:01 p.m._**

 _r u there_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 9:51 p.m._**

 _Did u kno that pretty boy was a whiner?_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 9:52 p.m._**

 _Srsly_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 9:55 p.m._**

 _Jesus, it was just one dance_

 _one fucking dance!_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 9:57 p.m._**

 _my family already thinks im gay or bi so whats the harm_

 _and the whole thing was HIS idea_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 10:06 p.m._**

 _asdfghjkl_

 _!$#?!_

 _it was just one hug. ONE HUG_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 10:08 p.m._**

 _maybe a long one_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 10:09 p.m._**

 _but he agreed to do this_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _30th April, 10:11 p.m._**

 _and again_

 _it was HIS IDEA!_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _1st May, 0:24 a.m._**

 _Srsly?!_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _1st May, 0:26 a.m._**

 _Blake is ripped like Captain America!_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _1st May, 0:27 a.m._**

 _CLARKE, DID U KNOW THAT?_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _1st May, 0:29 a.m._**

 _ignore me_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _1st May, 0:38 a.m._**

 _goodnight_

 ** _Roommate John (^^Murphy)_**

 ** _1st May, 0:45 a.m._**

 _Did u know that hes only sleeping in his underwear?!_

Well, she didn't expect all this information overload from Murphy.

She's mildly tipsy, to be honest. Oh, who is she kidding? She _is_ medium drunk and all she really remembers from her scrolling history is: One, Bellamy is almost naked. This is important. Two, Murphy finds him attractive and three, somewhere before getting naked they hugged. Which is… okay, they talked about boundaries before.

She shakes her head a little. Leave Murphy be. She taps back to the texts from Bellamy.

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _30th April, 9:06 p.m._**

 _omg murphy is dragging me out for a dance_

 _I knew it could happen, but…_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _30th April, 9:12 p.m._**

 _it's Celine Dion, Clarke!_

 _The Titanic song, Clarke!_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _30th April, 9:21 p.m._**

 _i love you Clarke, but please don't let me do this again_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _30th April, 9:40 p.m._**

 _he spectacularly dragged me off back to our room_

 _under the pretences to take a breath_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _30th April, 9:42 p.m._**

 _I'm pretty much a thousand percent sure everyone thought that we were gonna go have a quickie_

 _or something_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _1st May, 0:27 a.m._**

 _Listen, I know I went a little overboard with the texts_

 _I hope you had a great day princess_

 _I promise I'll make it up to you_

 _Sleep well and see you tomorrow_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _1st May, 0:28 a.m._**

 _or today I guess_

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _1st May, 0:58 a.m._**

 _OMG, Murphy is snoring like a horse!_

She can very well picture him huffing and making a face and maybe he was also running a hand through the tangle of curls falling in front of his eyes or rubbing his hand across the base of his neck.

She's aware, that despite being so tired, she's already smiling, and she scrolls down to the next message.

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _1st May, 0:59 a.m._**

 _Like a horse, Clarke!_

 _How is that even possible?_

She actually giggles at that.

She responds to Murphy first: _U r lucky he put on pants this time_.

For Bellamy she types out _so whos the little spoon?,_ then hits send, and hears the phone chirp almost instantly.

 ** _Bell_**

 ** _1st May, 1:05 a.m._**

 _not funny princess_

She laughs out loud, which reverberates in the otherwise silent apartment and replies a _g'night Bell_ and then _kisses_ once her giggles have died down and leaves it a that.

It occurs to her somewhat later, when she's already bundled under the warmth of the blankets of her bed, somewhere between that half-awake and half-asleep state, that he'd typed _i love you._

She cannot exactly tell if it was real. But it felt real. She's is so sure, though, she is so sure that he used those exact words: _i love you_. And even if it's been just a dream, it's a nice dream. She's happy, and it cannot be only the alcohol. She's still medium drunk and very tired, it can wait until the sun is up.

So she's sinking her face deeper into the pillows, inhaling Bellamy's lingering earthy smell. Her heart gives a happy little kick and she falls asleep with a peaceful smile on her face.

* * *

She's only mildly hungover in the morning when she wakes up, nothing a toast and lots of water cannot cure, so she's sane enough to check her phone. And there it is.

She screams.

It's more of a tiny little happy squeal, than a scream, she's not ashamed of that. She's alone in the apartment, she can let herself loosen up a little, once in a while; and she's happy.

* * *

She's just about to put on some clothes, after having a shower, when she hears the voices on the other side of the door, before the key is turning in the lock.

They are back.

Murphy nods as a way of greeting, then starts to his room, getting rid of the duffel. He's back out in the kitchen a moment later, grabbing a bottle of beer or something, before retreating to his room.

"G'night Clarke. Blake." He says, holding his hand out towards Bellamy.

At first, she doesn't understand the gesture, but then she sees Bellamy reaching out with his own, and there is it: the fist bump.

She must be making an an amused face, because next she remembers is Bellamy's voice pulling her back to him.

"What?" he says, shrugging.

She's eyeing him for a while, but then she asks, "Is there anything I should be aware of?"

"You jealous?" he asks, with a cocky smile.

She rolls her eyes in response, then an idea pops into her head.

Good thing she's wearing this cute little pink hoodie with a zipper right now. And in her rush to get to the door, she conveniently forgot to put her bra back on.

She catches sight of Murphy closing the door to his room, nodding at her as a way of bidding goodnight once again.

So when she bites down on her bottom lip, and slowly, very slowly starts to unzip the hoodie, pulling the zipper down to the valley of her breast, revealing more and more of her skin, she hears Bellamy's sharp intake of breath and marvels at the sight of his eyes darkening and blowing wide.

She's feeling very satisfied at the way his whole body's reacting at that tiny movement and the now uncovered swell of her breasts, and a crooked grin is starting to tug at the corner of her mouth.

Then she says, "I don't think so," before turning on her heals to step back into the bedroom.

Soon enough, she hears Bellamy's suppressed footsteps, ethereal like a panthers, poised to attack.

Then she hears Bellamy's raspy voice. "You're a menace, _princess,_ " a low rumble at the shell of her ears, as he's encircling her into his arms from behind, caging her in an embrace. He leans in further, somewhat nuzzling her neck and inhaling her scent, like some kind of medicine.

They make sure to close the door behind them for the night.

* * *

Not a week later, when a package arrives. What is more weird, though, that it's already gift-wrapped. Bellamy goes and picks it up and puts a sticky note on top, something's clearly written on it in Bellamy's neat handwriting.

She has to strain her neck to have a closer look. The note says:

 _Thanks for last weekend._

 _B._

When Clarke asks about it, he doesn't comment, but has this sly smile tugging at his lips, and a playful glint in his eyes, so she knows something's up.

So when, hardly 10 minutes after Murphy arrived, and she hears his grumpy shout, she instantly looks at Bellamy.

" _Oww_ Blake, YOU'RE SUCH A DICK!"

Bellamy guffaws, she doesn't understand why, not really, not until Murphy appears in the doorway, holding a big heavy looking book in his hands.

Clarke's eyes widen, her mouth falls open in a silent o, and _ohh_ , really, because the title reads _The Big Penis Book_.

Then she cannot stop the giggles bursting out of her, and not even a minute passes, when her sides are splitting, she's laughing so hard.

Murphy eventually joins them, and soon enough, the whole apartment is ringing of their laughter. All three of them.

 _Well_ , she notes, if that's not the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

 **End notes:**

It took me several tries to upload this little fic, and got honestly annoyed. It's so much easier to post things on ao3. Or is it just me? ?

* * *

I swear to god I had this idea Murphy being harassed by his cousin's relative/bff like the moment I posted the first fic in this verse. My original plan was to go with Echo, and I wanted to give her pimples or something, so Ontari just came in handy. (I'm sorry!)

The Big Penis Book is 100% legit, one of my friends have it.

I don't know what I'm doing anymore, you tell me. And while you're at it, tell me what you liked.


End file.
